Feedback requested

[A little bit of England]

Misplaced this one before.

http://www.alittlebitofengland.es

All feedback welcome, but I reserve the right to reply.

Please explore the whole site before giving feedback.

[Margaret]

In all honesty, I would never stay anywhere which charged €15 per night - is that really your tariff? And I did not perceive the bedrooms to be a positive example of 'England'. And I have a personal hatred of mission statements (although I have to confess that we have one as it was compulsory for our European quality accreditation). Sorry, but you did ask.

[Jimbo]

All feedback welcome, but I reserve the right to reply. Please explore the whole site before giving feedback.

I hope that you do reply to comments good and bad. So often, people with no track record on this forum breeze in, ask for a website review and never give any feedback or - importantly - any thanks to those who've taken so much time and trouble to trawl their sites. But expecting members to 'explore the whole site before commenting' may be a bridge too far for the busy most of us. Usually, members will pick up on their area(s) of particular interest or expertise and you may end up with a patchy mosaic of thoughts - which may be helpful.

Jim

[la vache!]

I had a look at the site yesterday, but have to say it looks a bit strange on my very-wide-screen laptop. The text reaches half way across the screen, then there is a lot of blank page with 'A little bit of England' embossed, then 2 tabs on the right hand side of the screen for Enquiries, Tariffs and reservations.
For me; there is too much text on the screen and not enough good photos (the bedroom photos look very blurry on the full size shot).
I hate lots of different fonts on a page, maybe that is a personal thing.
On the Attractions and Amenities page the subtitles are on the right for me, which looks wrong, surely they should be left or centre of the text?
The guest book looks like it is full of spam comments. I have seen nicer on line guest books.
The whole site looks a little too homemade to me, sorry. And for me, if I wanted to visit a little bit of England, I'd go to England, not Spain!

[A little bit of England]

In all honesty, I would never stay anywhere which charged €15 per night - is that really your tariff? And I did not perceive the bedrooms to be a positive example of 'England'. And I have a personal hatred of mission statements (although I have to confess that we have one as it was compulsory for our European quality accreditation). Sorry, but you did ask.

Thanks for the feedback Margaret. I am obviously targeting a different client sector to yourself. Most of my guests are property seekers or those with family in the area but not enough space. I do get quite a few Estate Agent referrals but I refuse to align myself with any one agency. €15 (€12.50 for 4 nights or more) is about the most we could get away with here, with the local Hostals with on-site restaurant and bar charging €18 - €20 a night. I don't have (or want) a pool and I don't offer an evening meal, so my overheads are low. There is only a small outside space for guests to relax and as this is an agricultural community, the flies are a nightmare. Additionally, it is more of a sideline and I do not have to rely on it for my income. Most of the English-owned B&Bs here charge €30 to €40 per room, which is pretty much the same, except we tend to get more singletons.

[A little bit of England]

I had a look at the site yesterday, but have to say it looks a bit strange on my very-wide-screen laptop. The text reaches half way across the screen, then there is a lot of blank page with 'A little bit of England' embossed, then 2 tabs on the right hand side of the screen for Enquiries, Tariffs and reservations.
For me; there is too much text on the screen and not enough good photos (the bedroom photos look very blurry on the full size shot).
I hate lots of different fonts on a page, maybe that is a personal thing.
On the Attractions and Amenities page the subtitles are on the right for me, which looks wrong, surely they should be left or centre of the text?
The guest book looks like it is full of spam comments. I have seen nicer on line guest books.
The whole site looks a little too homemade to me, sorry. And for me, if I wanted to visit a little bit of England, I'd go to England, not Spain!

Thanks for the feedback. I use a 23-inch screen but seldom have anything in full screen when browsing. Reducing the window size brings the right-hand elements in with it, until they eventually disappear under the main text, so sideways scrolling isn't necessary except perhaps on mobile devices. Not saying you are wrong, just explaining the rationale.

I do weed out the spam from the guestbook quite frequently. There was none there when I looked today - the German comments were mostly about the site (and very complimentary), so not spam, but I agree - there are better Guest Book implementations. I have been using this one on various sites for almost 10 years and it is probably due for retirement.

The site was designed to look a little home made, so I will take that as a compliment. The clientèle I try to attract are looking for low-cost short term accommodation with no fuss or frills, but a reasonable level of comfort, which I believe I provide. The theme and direction of the web site reflect this.

As the site has an .es extension, it is more likely to be found by people looking for accommodation in Spain than in England. In fact it is optimised for the local area, but I do see what you mean. I tend not to use many pictures - even optimised they can seriously slow down a site loading time. There is also little to picture here. The two rooms and one of the 2 identical en-suites, plus the outside of the house is about it. No grand staircases, dining rooms etc. as that is not what my client base is looking for. I think we may be swimming in different seas!

[A little bit of England]

All feedback welcome, but I reserve the right to reply. Please explore the whole site before giving feedback.

I hope that you do reply to comments good and bad. So often, people with no track record on this forum breeze in, ask for a website review and never give any feedback or - importantly - any thanks to those who've taken so much time and trouble to trawl their sites. But expecting members to 'explore the whole site before commenting' may be a bridge too far for the busy most of us. Usually, members will pick up on their area(s) of particular interest or expertise and you may end up with a patchy mosaic of thoughts - which may be helpful.

Jim

Thanks Jim, and yes, I do, although my experience here so far is that some reviewers do not take kindly to having their criticisms explored and discussed! A couple have been quite snotty in fact. When I review a site, I at least look at each page and explore a few of the links before I feel I can make credible comment.

[A little bit of England]

In all honesty, I would never stay anywhere which charged €15 per night - is that really your tariff?

Hi again Maragaret
Having now visited your 2 sites, I can see where you are coming from here. We clearly move in vastly different circles as I would never consider paying the the prices you ask (I think the most I have ever paid was £50 for a Travel lodge and that was for 4 of us!). However, I have several other income streams so don't rely on the B&B for "bread and butter" and if anyone wants to pay more, I would not refuse (in fact, some have).

However, the sites are nice and crisp, easy to navigate and make a good use of depth as well as width in the menu layouts. A little too Wordpress derived for my personal taste, but a nice implementation nonetheless

[Jimbo]

I would never stay anywhere which charged €15 per night - is that really your tariff?

I would, without a qualm, provided the accommodation was clean and comfortable. Particularly if I was arriving late, leaving early and only required a good night's sleep. Sometimes, I've resented paying through the nose for a location that I'll never enjoy and amenities that I will have no time to use.

... my experience here so far is that some reviewers do not take kindly to having their criticisms explored and discussed! A couple have been quite snotty ...

Many of the regular posters on here are experienced and successful rental owners at the top of their game. Sometimes their advice is delivered in a mailed fist rather than a velvet glove but is no less valuable for that. I've always been amazed at how generously LMH members offer hard-won and (perhaps) commercially sensitive information to strangers on a public forum - some of whom may be direct competitors. So I'm always ready to forgive the messenger.

Jim

[A little bit of England]

I would never stay anywhere which charged €15 per night - is that really your tariff?

I would, without a qualm, provided the accommodation was clean and comfortable. Particularly if I was arriving late, leaving early and only required a good night's sleep.

Thanks for that Jimbo. You appear to have understood completely the client base I am aiming for.

... my experience here so far is that some reviewers do not take kindly to having their criticisms explored and discussed! A couple have been quite snotty ...

Many of the regular posters on here are experienced and successful rental owners at the top of their game.
Jim

I agree with that completely - I use several user-to-user forums for different enterprises, but this is the only one where I have received harsh criticism that hasn't been mediated in any way by constructive comment and was anyway based on no more than a glance. It would be a bit like staying at one of their establishments, finding a fallen leaf on the windowsill and deducing from this that the establishment wasn't clean.

[la vache!]

A lot of us haven't got time to do an in depth review, and so many people come onto this forum, ask for a review and then disappear off for good. A glance is what you are going to get from many people finding your website - if that glance doesn't want to make them look further through the website, then you're stuffed! So don't be too dismissive about the criticisms, even if the person hasn't had the time to go through the whole website (and I did, for the record). If you ask for feedback you have to be able to accept it.

[A little bit of England]

A lot of us haven't got time to do an in depth review, and so many people come onto this forum, ask for a review and then disappear off for good. A glance is what you are going to get from many people finding your website - if that glance doesn't want to make them look further through the website, then you're stuffed! So don't be too dismissive about the criticisms, even if the person hasn't had the time to go through the whole website (and I did, for the record). If you ask for feedback you have to be able to accept it.

I hear what you are saying, and my replies have never been more than to explain the rationale of what they found to criticise as it appears they have missed it altogether. To be told that the front page is "messy" by someone who's site front page is a few flags and the site name in a half dozen languages, with no indication of how to get anywhere else on the site and then when you do figure it out, it leads to another page with no information, just some links and none of the pages linked to have any navigation and the only way to get off a page is the browser back button..... that I find irritating. And someone who "would never stay anywhere that only charges 15€ a night" in my opinion has serious issues in distinguishing between cost and value.

[Margaret]

"And someone who "would never stay anywhere that only charges 15€ a night" in my opinion has serious issues in distinguishing between cost and value."

I won't dignify that comment with a reply - or any other comments made by that poster.

[lorca]

Dave, you clearly don´t want any feedback on your site. You say you are a web designer and are obviously completely happy with your website and your B and B. If you believe you have nothing to learn why ask?

You say that your B and B is a "sideline" and it sounds like (from your description above) that you regard it as a stopover place rather than a place for people to come on holiday.

Most of the regular posters on this site are in the business of providing holiday accommodation. Whether it´s a full or part-time business we take it seriously and want to provide the best possible experience for our guests. Many of us have received a huge amount of support and advice from fellow forum members. Ian and Irene (who you criticise above) in particular have shared their extensive specialist knowledge of website building with many of us - as well as spending a great deal of time helping others who just drop into the forum for a review and move on without contributing anything themselves.

I can´t remember a single other instance when someone who has asked for feedback has responded to a comment they don´t like by attacking the reviewer´s own website.

[burdy]

Dave
I don't do "in depth reviews" but I have explored the full site.

A couple of comments:

I don't think your photos show off the property well enough.
Couldn't you have a separate page for the photos?

Picture 5/5 - you have spelt viewed wrong
Pictures 4 and 5 seem out of focus to me

Why have you only got 5 pictures and only 4 of them are of the property? Can't you put some more on and get them at a better resolution?
You say you have a lounge and landing but there are no pictures of them, nor any garden / yard at the rear which you describe as a "small outside space"

The text on each page like a watermark is really offputting.
Does it have to be there?

Just a few observations
Hopefully you'll accept the constructive criticism

BURDY